


Second Chances

by Rebekah_Zellers



Series: Tadpole Series [15]
Category: NCIS
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-19
Updated: 2018-09-19
Packaged: 2019-07-14 04:46:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16033277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rebekah_Zellers/pseuds/Rebekah_Zellers
Summary: Valuable lessons are learned in the wake of Easter Sunday and the festitives that surround it.Can Tad's crush on Rachel survive?How does a horse and butterfly help with healing?Can Gibbs let go of his hurt and pain?  How will the kids play a part?The Tadpole Saga Continues....





	Second Chances

Every holiday Gibbs found himself with four very excited children to deal with. Tony’s excitement was infectious as he got things ready for his precious children and always had a genuine sense of excitement when Gibbs did something very special for him.

 

It was Easter! His children were now, 8, 6 and 2. While Shelby had no understanding what was happening she did know that her brothers and her daddy were very excited about whatever was happening.

 

Good Friday, Abby started a tradition where she took the two boys skating. After an exhausting morning of roller skating and doing stunts that gave Abby at least twenty-five new gray hairs, the trio set off for lunch. Tad’s face lit up when Rachel joined them; his knees all weak and his belly full of giggles.

 

“I never get tired of this,” Rachel smiled as the young fella hugged her tight. Digging in his pockets, he was horrified to find that he left his allowance at home. Panic struck, his whole world about to collapse in on itself until he spotted Abby’s cell phone on the table. Easing the mobile device from its perch, Tad slid gracefully under the table and called the only person that he could think of that would help him out of such a tough situation.

 

“Uncle Tim,” Tad whispered loudly causing the women to look at the table cloth. “I need you, man. I left my money at home and I’m on a date with my lady. It’s not proper for her to pay; I have a real emergency here.”

 

“Oh geeze,” Gabe covered his eyes. “Chivalry is not dead.”

 

“Where’d you hear that?” Abby laughed at her nephew.

 

“Grandpa Ducky,” Gabe smiled brightly. “He says that all the time when he opens the door for grandma Celeste and stuff.”

 

Tad continued to bargain with his uncle, he would pay him in good chocolate from his daddy’s private stash if he went to his house and got his allowance off his bed where he’d left it.

 

“Tad,” Tim sighed. “I’m in the middle of something with Delilah.”

 

“You are ruining my life, Uncle Tim. You’re old, you’ve had love. I’m young, this is my whole life ahead of me kind of love.”

 

“Taddy,” Delilah stole the phone. “What do you need baby? Ignore Tim; he’s in a bad mood because the Easter Bunny pooped on his keyboard.”

 

“Oh man,” Tad sighed. “I need my allowance from my bed. I didn’t know Rachel was surprising me and I can’t let her pay for her meal, Aunt Delilah. I just can’t. It wouldn’t be very gentleman of me.”

 

“Where are you?” Delilah smiled; she loved how cute Tad was. Tad told her everything he could about where he was and suggested that Tim use his geek skills to trace Abby’s phone. 

 

What Tad didn’t know what that his uncle and aunt were at the house making sure that his siblings, the Palmer trio and himself had one hell of a holiday. Grabbing the money from the bed, Tim made his way into the restaurant and found his little nephew looking anxious at the table. Walking up to the table, Tim slipped Tad his money while giving Abby and Rachel both chocolate eggs.

 

“Happy Easter!” Tim smiled and winked at the ladies.

 

“Uncle Tim,” Tad eased out of the chair and stood with his hand extended. “I appreciate the sacrifice you made for me. I’m sorry the Easter Bunny defecated on your keyboard. We have a spare one at my house in the office; I will help you find it later. You deserve better than that from the Easter Bunny.”

 

“Thanks, man.” Tim winked. “You treat your lady right; you’ve got a keeper there.”

 

“Oh I know it!” Tad giggled. “Va-va-va-voom.”

 

“You are such a DiNozzo,” Tim laughed. “Ladies, it was lovely to see you. I’ll see you both tomorrow for breakfast at Tony’s house.”

 

Tad joyfully paid for Rachel’s dinner unknown to him that the two ladies that were sharing his company were going to put the money back in his piggy bank when they got him home. Lord knows the little boy needed to keep a few dollars for the swear jar. When he got passionate about something, his mouth got him a great deal of trouble.

 

Breakfast was an excited flurry of activity as all the people that the DiNozzo family loved gathered to share a meal. By the time they were done eating, Tony was ready to levitate off the chair with excitement. Handing all the children bags, he took them outside and put the triplets and Shelby in one section of the yard where they could easily find the eggs that Tony had hidden. Gabe, Tad, Tony and Gibbs were ushered to the far right by Abby and Ducky. Tony had gone to great lengths to hide eggs and the boy’s baskets what he didn’t know was that his friends had hidden gifts for himself and Gibbs.

 

“What?” Tony looked stunned when he found a clue that led him to his present. Unsure what to think, the father of three sat on the grass watching his children as he carefully unwrapped the present. Tony took the time to really enjoy the children and the day as Rachel snapped the pictures that captured the moments of magic.

 

Tad abandoned his proper boyfriend personality to a kid which Rachel adored more than his attentiveness. Squeals of laughter filled the air when Tad found his big gift, a brand new bike complete with a side cart for Nemo. Gabe sat down on the ground stunned by his present; his mouth hung open as he looked completely overwhelmed.

 

“Whoa!” Tad giggled. “You got a horse! It’s a horse of your very own. You don’t have to go that far to ride now. He’s beautiful.”

 

“How do you know it’s a boy?” Gabe whispered only to have his brother point out that the horse was taller than girl horses.

 

“Grandpa!” Gabe stood up and went running for his best friend. “You have to see my horse; you have to.”

 

“That is a beautiful animal,” Gibbs praised as he picked his grandson up and put him on the horse. “Let’s take the beauty to the barn.” Gabe held on tight while his grandpa led the horse to the barn; his stall already set up as they had been hiding the horse for three days.

 

“What’s the horse’s name?” Gabe questioned as his grandpa put him down. “Your horse and my horse can be best friends.”

 

“Your horse is named Gabriel’s Gentle George.” Gibbs watched as his grandson held his side laughing. “You like that name?”

 

“George?” Gabe was gasping for air he was laughing so hard. “I love that his name is George.”

 

Tad was riding his bike around the yard with Nemo in the side car by the time Gibbs and Gabe made their way back to the house. The sound of laughter and giggles filled the air as the little ones watched their idol careen through the yard.

 

“Come here you four,” Tony smiled as he pulled a wagon from the hiding spot. “This is for you; we’re going to have so much fun!”

 

“COOL!” Gabe exclaimed as soon as he saw the wagon. “I want to help pull it.”

 

“You push,” Tony laughed. “I’m going to need big strong muscles to help me.”

 

The Palmer triplets squealed with delight as the wagon pulled them through the yard, Shelby’s eyes never leaving her brother as he rode the bike. The first chance she got, the little girl crawled out of the wagon and made her way to her brother.

 

“Daddy?” Tad called out to his father. “Can she rides in here?”

 

“She can,” Tony nodded as he helped Shelby in and put Nemo in her lap. “Just be careful.”

 

“I will!” Tad crossed his heart. “She’s my precious cargo.”

 

“How are you doing?” Gibbs questioned softly as Tony sat down beside him with an exhausted sigh. “I am wonderful; I really am. Gibbs, I never imagined my life to be this way to have this. Now, I can’t imagine a day without them.”

 

“That makes two of us,” Gibbs words caught in his throat, the emotions of the moment catching up with him. “I should be sitting here watching Kelly’s children playing; I should be being grandpa to them.”

 

Tony’s heart shattered; he knew that Gibbs missed his girls but part of him had hoped that he and the children filled part of that void. “I wish I could fix that for you, Boss. I know that you love your girls; they are always with you. You carry their memory just like I carry that of my mother. She would have loved these children; she would have hired a marching band for them for today.”

 

“I’m going to go inside for a while,” Gibbs whispered as he stood; teetering on his feet as the exhaustion of the day settled over him. Strong hands steadied him; guiding him over to a chaise lounge that sat in the shade. A glass of juice pressed into his hand and a cool cloth on his forehead made his head spin with emotions but not for those lost but those found.

 

“Drink,” Tony said softly. “You didn’t sleep last night did you?”

 

“No,” Gibbs grunted after he took a drink. “Or the night before that either, I was working on something and couldn’t shut my mind off.”

 

“Working on what?” Tony’s mind was full of worry and concern; he knew that Gibbs had been preoccupied and distant the last few days but he also had expressed excitement over the holiday and seemed to have a plan. There had been a wide berth since the stroke so that he felt as if he had his independence.

 

“A surprise,” Gibbs smiled shyly something that made Tony’s heart melt as much as it did when his kids gave him the same look.

 

“You’re worrying me,” Tony held the glass of juice to Gibbs lips one more time. “I know you miss your girls; you were retreating because you were emotional when you almost collapsed. Gibbs, I want you to tell me how I can make your life better here? Tell me what I can do so that we can make your hurt less.”

 

“Oh Tony,” Gibbs sighed; he realized that his moment of emotion had hurt his boy. “You already have, son. I can’t really remember a time when you weren’t part of my life; part of my heart.”

 

“Daddy?” Gabe walked up to his dad and grandpa. “You should go play with Shelby for a minute.” Tony was unsure what was going on with his son but he stood and carefully moved where the little boy couldn’t see him. Pure instinct and love drove his son now; he could see it. Gabriel eased himself up onto the chaise with his grandpa, his head in the crook of the older man’s neck while his hand gently patted his chest. The tension that had been in Gibbs’ body flowed out almost immediately as he visibly sagged against the support of the lawn furniture.

 

“Is Jethro okay?” Ducky questioned softly.

 

“He is better now than he has been in a long while,” Tony pointed as Tad and Shelby climbed up with their brother and smothered their grandpa in love. “He got a bit dizzy earlier; wouldn’t hurt to look him over but not right now.”

 

“I dare say that they are better medicine than anything I carry in my bag.” Ducky watched with affection as his patient drifted off to sleep with his grandchildren snuggled closely.

 

“Daddy,” Gabe whispered softly drawing Tony’s attention. “Very easy get us off grandpa and cover him with a blanket.”

 

A smile split Tony’s face as he eased his children from their snuggle spot to the ground. Tad and Gabe supervised as Tony covered Gibbs and Ducky gently took his pulse. Satisfied that he was in good hands, the children tore off to play leaving the grown-ups to do what grownups do.

 

“Gabe?” Breena pulled the little boy towards her and kissed his cheek. “Do you know what Easter is?”

 

“Yes,” Gabe smiled; he was pretty proud that his Aunt Breena asked him this question. “Today is when Jesus was undead. God gave the world a second chance to get it right by having his only son die on the cross so that all our sins can be forgiven.”

 

“Do you know what a sin is?” Breena prodded; she loved conversations with Gabe, he got so serious.

 

“It’s when you do bad things like tell a lie, kill someone, steal and stuff.” Gabe smiled at Breena’s face lit up with pride. “The only people that can kill are the police officers because they do it to protect us and the bible says Thou shall not murder so God doesn’t get mad at police officers he understands they have to protect his children.”

 

“How did you know that?” Abby sat down beside her nephew very intrigued.

 

“I asked the preacher at church because I was worried that all the people I love are going to hell.” Gabe explained.

 

“That’s a pretty big worry for such a little guy.” Abby sighed.

 

“Abbytales,” Tad hugged his worried aunt. “We’re very complex children; we don’t do anything easy.”

 

“Where’d you hear that?” Tony laughed.

 

“Grandma Celeste told Grandpa Ducky one day when I asked him if he would help me perform an autopsy on a butterfly.” Tad was proud of himself as he beamed up at his astonished father.

 

“Why did the butterfly need an autopsy?” Tony questioned with a great deal of concern for how his son’s mind worked.

 

“I prospected foul play because the butterfly had a broken wing.” Tad’s face sad as he remembered. “The butterfly had been murdered and I wanted to the bottom of it with an investigation. Grandpa said we didn’t have enough evidence to call in the police that the butterfly could have broken her wing by running into a tree or something.”

 

“So what did you do?” Tony questioned softly.

 

“We made a little box to put her in and we gave her proper burial.” Tad pointed to the tree at the edge of the property. “We put her under that tree.”

 

Gibbs stirred on the chaise drawing Tony’s attention back to his under the weather friend. Going to the older man’s side, Tony watched carefully and was ready when he saw the nightmare starting. His hand automatically went to Gibbs’ head soothing away the dream that was playing in there. “Jethro, it’s okay. You’re home with Tad, Gabe, Shelby and our friends. You’re safe. Your girls are just a dream. Look at their faces, Gibbs. Look at those smiles; can you see them? They are so happy that you are happy; it’s okay now. They are fine where they are and someday you’ll be with them again but right now, they know that the kids need you. Is Shannon telling you to come back with the kids?”

 

“Shannon,” Gibbs mumbled as his wife hugged him in his dream.

 

“Jethro, just look at how happy they are; you make them happy. They are your life now; this life. They are your present and your future.” Shannon whispered

 

“I want to be with you,” Gibbs mumbled breaking Tony’s heart. “Please Shannon.”

 

“Come with me,” Shannon led her husband to a clearing where their now grown daughter was playing with a butterfly. “That is Tad’s butterfly, Jethro. We are doing our part up here; you need to keep doing yours down there.”

 

“Son?” Ann stepped from behind a tree. “Come with me, honey.”

 

Walking through the field, Ann held her son’s hand tight. “You have to stop this self-blame. You have been judge and jury to yourself since I drew my last breath. My baby boy, my dear sweet child… I had cancer I couldn’t stay with you. No matter what you did, it couldn’t stop the cancer. You are not responsible for my death. Your girls died, honey. They died, not you. You have grieved so hard; you have tried to relive a piece of their history to put it all together that isn’t yours to relive. They did not suffer, son. Death for both of them was instantaneous. There was no pain, nothing but warmth and light. They knew no fear or pain. At that moment, Shannon was turned in her seat laughing at something Kelly said neither saw it coming or felt fear or pain. The last thing they heard was the laughter of the other.”

 

“They didn’t hurt?” Gibbs swallowed hard in his sleep as he processed the words of his mother.

 

“Not a bit,” Ann promised. “Now, I want you to go back to those precious great grandbabies of mine and tell them about the time that you had a funeral for the first worm that your dad ever had you bait to a hook and how you wanted your father arrested for murder. You go back and you make them laugh, my son. You make them laugh and you laugh with them. More than anything, I want you to live. No more looking back, no more mourning.. you live.”

 

“Anthony,” Ducky called softly. “Wake him up, my boy. He’s in pain.”

 

“No,” Tony stopped Ducky. “Take the kids and go play. He needs whatever is going on in that dream.”

 

A cool cloth appeared in his line of sight, looking up into the concerned face of Jackson… Tony gave a reassuring smile. “I’m going to get him some tea; he’s going to have to calm down once he wakes up. I agree with what you are doing here, Tony.”

 

Gently Tony sponged off Gibbs face with the cool cloth watching as cloudy, unfocused eyes eased open. “I saw Tad’s butterfly.” Gibbs whispered. “Kelly had her; she was beautiful and her wing wasn’t broken any more.”

 

“What happened?” Tony pushed as he noticed the pain that had taken up residence in his friend’s features was now gone.

 

“They didn’t hurt,” Gibbs eyes filled with tears that he allowed to fall with a sob; as he sobbed out his pain in an unheard of display of emotions. “My mom told me; they didn’t hurt. They didn’t even see it coming. Kelly was being silly and Shannon was laughing at her when it happened. They didn’t know.”

 

Easing himself from the chaise, Gibbs made his way to his grandchildren and pulled them into his lap as he sat on the steps of the deck. “When I was about your age, Gabe .. I went fishing with your grandpa Jack. Oh my word! He made me bait my hook with a worm and when I realized that the worm died on the hook guess what I tried to do!”

 

“What?” The boys giggled in intrigue.

 

“I tried to have him arrested for murder.” Gibbs gasped with a smile as his boys laid down on the ground peals of laughter coming from both of them.

 

“Is he okay?” Jack asked as he came out with the tea.

 

“He is,” Tony smiled. “He got his second chance at living. In a way, you can say his soul was resurrected.”


End file.
